


Reassurances

by Junker



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2019-02-05 00:47:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12783273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Junker/pseuds/Junker
Summary: DaVonte shows his boyfriend Mat his paintings, and he's surprised by Mat's reaction.





	Reassurances

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mandroid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mandroid/gifts).



> Quick preorder commission for a friend!! You're the best!

DaVonte Renalds shifted his weight from one foot to another as Mat looked at the canvases in his bedroom. It was the first time Mat was in his bedroom, and anxiety bubbled through DaVonte. He wished he still had a studio like in his old house. It was much less weird having someone look through your work there, but in the bedroom - he had flashes of Mat playfully offering to pose nude, or pulling him back onto the bed for a kiss.

“These are really cool,” Mat said, for about the third time.

DaVonte suspected Mat was just as uncomfortable as he was. Mat prattled on a bit, comparing art to music and filling the air with a sometimes nonsensical string of words. DaVonte said, “So you’re really into a hundred paintings of cats? You’re not just being nice because my bed is like a foot away?”

DaVonte was suddenly a bit embarrassed about wearing his cat shirt and blazer. Did he need to wear a cat shirt while Mat looked through all his cat paintings? 

“What? No,” Mat said. “I really like cats and I feel like these capture, like, the essence of what’s great about cats.”

DaVonte nodded, pretty sure Mat was spouting bullshit.

“Like this one,” Mat said, pulling out a painting of a particularly fat cat in a sunbeam. “You’ve kept the cat greyscale but the tile its laying on is all wild colours. You kind of emphasize its beauty through minimalism. Like it doesn’t even need colours to be beautiful.”

DaVonte’s eyes narrowed. “Uh, okay.”

“And this one,” Mat said. He grabbed a small canvas in his other hand. “It’s just a cat’s face with the widest pupils. That cat’s excited about something. And you know what’s great? It could be anything. We never know what cool little thing is going to get a cat jazzed, and by facing just the cat and not the object itself, it reminds us of that. Cats kind of celebrate the mundane, you know? You don’t need anything special to impress them.”

Mat set the two canvases down on DaVonte’s bed and continued sorting through the other works. It took DaVonte a moment to realize that Mat was dead serious. “Wait, you really see all that when you look at them?”

“Yeah,” Mat said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love cats to begin with and these are definitely scratching that itch, but these are good, DaVonte. Damn good.”

DaVonte couldn’t tell if what was growing in his chest was excitement or anxiety. His heart pounded faster and he couldn’t figure out what to do with his hands. He felt a little frantic. He went to his nightstand and pulled his hair back into an Afro Puff to keep busy. “Oh, um, thanks.”

“We should do something with these.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

Mat started pulling out canvases and laying them out on DaVonte’s bed. “You should have an art show. The colours in these all work really nice together.”

DaVonte asked, “An art show?”

Mat said, “Yeah!”

While Mat talked about organizing them as different series, DaVonte tried to process the information. He still wasn’t sure Mat actually suggested an art show for him. His art never really got any attention outside of friends and family, and that’s only when he asked their thoughts. Amanda, the wonderful daughter she was, spent the most time with them, though she did often complain that DaVonte should try more dog-shaped subjects. The thought that people other than friends and family would even want to see his art left him a bit dumbfounded. Did he really want to hear stranger’s apathy or straight-up dislike for his stress-relief cat paintings? 

So DaVonte asked again, “You really think I should have an art show?”

“Yeah,” Mat said, turning to face DaVonte. “You did say that once Amanda went off to college, you were hoping to spend more time on your art, right?”

“I mean sure, but-”

“Wouldn’t you want her to see your first art show?”

Mat’s smile was broad and wide. His excitement spilt into DaVonte, but it made the anxiety - and that thing bubbling in his stomach was definitely anxiety now - start to overflow. DaVonte’s hands were shaking. “I don’t - I don’t even know how to do that.”

“I could ask around and,” Mat hesitated. His fair brown eyes started to burrow into DaVonte’s dark brown ones. Mat said, “Oh dude. I’m steamrolling you.”

“No, no. I appreciate your enthusiasm a lot.”

Mat took DaVonte’s hands in his own and squeezed them. DaVonte found himself taking deep breaths as Mat quietly watched him. Mat pulled him into his arms and squeezed him. He nuzzled into DaVonte’s neck. DaVonte followed suit. Every time Mat hugged him felt like a blessing. He didn’t quite understand what someone so handsome and fun and smart and cool and beautiful and broken was doing with a mess like him. And Mat was so fucking patient.

Mat slightly pulled away to look at DaVonte, but he kept his arms firmly around him. DaVonte kind of loved him for still holding on. Mat said, “Your work is beautiful, and I just got a little overexcited because I wanted everyone to see it.”

DaVonte smiled weakly. Mat smiled back softly. He rested his forehead against DaVonte’s. 

Mat said, “It’s okay if you want to keep it to yourself. I might ask to take one home though.”

DaVonte nodded. “I’d like that.”

Mat lightly pecked his lips, and he rested his forehead back against DaVonte’s. DaVonte watched his eyes. He traced his hands down Mat’s chest, just thinking about how lucky he was to find someone so encouraging about what he often pushed aside as a “silly hobby.”

But he loved painting. If there was a chance it could become something more, didn’t he want to chase it? He didn’t know. Could he handle the pressure and the schmoozing and the endless failure? Would anyone even come to one of his shows? Or would it just be him and Mat and Amanda and Carmensita?

He thought about the four of them together in an empty gallery filled with his cat paintings, but it occurred to him that he wasn’t sad at the thought. He loved them. All he really wanted was to spend time with them. Would a potential art show even be a failure if they were the only ones he needed?

“Hey Mat?”

“Yeah?”

“What if, um, what if I wanted to try having a show?”

“Yeah?”

“I mean,” DaVonte drew away slightly and held Mat’s hands, “I’d need you to be there. I know I sound clingy, but-”

“I couldn’t have gotten on that stage without you,” Mat said. “I get it, don’t worry.”

He let go of DaVonte’s hand to cup his cheeks. He tilted his head downwards to kiss DaVonte’s forehead. DaVonte hugged him. Mat kissed his cheek. “You’re the best,” DaVonte said. “Do you know that?”

“I think maybe we’re the best for each other,” Mat said, “which makes you the best too.”

DaVonte laughed sharply and Mat laughed too as he squeezed DaVonte against him. Mat kissed him again, but deeper. He parted DaVonte’s lips with his own and curved his back against him. DaVonte kissed back while trying to figure out where to put his hands but ultimately rubbed Mat’s back.

Mat broke the kiss quickly and said, “Oh, I have an idea!” DaVonte hoped it was sexy in nature, but Mat continued, “We could have an art show for you at the Coffee Spoon. We’d take down all the art and put up yours. We’d have a little launch party and leave them up for sale for - what - a month? It’d be good for both of us, and then we’re guaranteed to be glued together the entire night.”

DaVonte tried not to sound too demanding when he said, “But you’ll be busy running the place.”

Mat grinned, “And you’ll be obligated to help me instead of socializing.”

“Oh! Good idea.”

“And then I get to spend a month looking at all these cats,” Mat said and pecked DaVonte’s lips. “What do you think?”

DaVonte was a little nervous about always seeing his art in the coffee shop for a month, but it was still an exciting prospect. “It’s a really good idea.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I love it.”

Mat laughed and squeezed DaVonte again. He released him to go through the canvases again. “Then let’s do it. Let me know if there are any in particular you’d want on display - and if there are some you’d rather not sell. We can always put them up anyway, but mark them as already sold. Plus I’m going to want to buy one, and Amanda probably needs one for her college dorm. Carmensita will want this pink one. I bet Hugo will want this one - the cat sleeping on the books. It’d look good in his library.”

“You don’t think he’ll find it too pedestrian?”

Mat laughed. “That does sound like something he’d say, but not about this. Come on, you have to have an opinion on some of these. If you let me decide, my entire place is just going to be cat pictures.”

“And that’s a problem because?”

Mat hesitated and then grinned. “You’re right, it’s not. Let’s just put them all up.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No, I bet we can make room. Come on, help me carry them.”

DaVonte lightly grabbed Mat’s wrist as he walked back to the bed, and Mat stopped. “Hey Mat?”

Mat faced him with a large grin. “Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

Mat’s smile softened. He cupped DaVonte’s cheeks again and lightly brushed his lips against his. DaVonte closed the gap and kissed him. When their lips parted, Mat replied, “Anytime.”

**Author's Note:**

> • [Twitter](https://twitter.com/JunkerFics) • [Tumblr](https://junkerfics.tumblr.com/) • [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/community/Not%20a%20Main%20Character) • 


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